Knight of Armor
by Beckon
Summary: When he had held her against his chest like that, even for just a few seconds, it almost made her forget about the arrow that had previously been lodged in her shoulder.


Ugh, it was going to leave a horrible, disgusting and absolute repulsive scar.

That was the only thing she could think of as she pressed her right hand tightly against her left shoulder; feeling the grimacing flush of warm blood as it pushed through her nimble fingers and spilled out to stain the thin material of her silk gloves. The sharpened, maybe possibly now broken end of an arrow peeked out between two fingers and disappeared into her flesh before it emerged straight out the back of her shoulder somewhere. Crimson streams bubbled out around the wound and made an easy path down the front of her uniform; leaving behind a stained trail over the expensive fabric. And of course, it had to hit the one shoulder where she wasn't wearing a piece of protective armor- something she cursed herself for but in all honesty, two pieces just seemed bulky to carry around. She was a mage, not a close-range fighter, there was really no need for her to be wearing armor in the first place. However, this little incident seemed to change that matter. At the very least, she could attempt to try and stop the bleeding; although, she didn't even have the _nerve_ to try and break the arrow free. She was not that willing to experience that kind of pain yet.

Well there went her flawless body and beauty. This horrible injury was going to make her ugly now. Although, she supposed if she kept it covered, it would remain a tiny little secret… ugh, but mentally it was like having the equivalence of a massive war injury or a missing limb. Just listen to her, she sounded like some kind of Drama Queen- she supposed she could blame that on the pain though. For now anyways.

"Calill, are you okay?"

She tossed a quick glance over at the question and watched as the pink-haired Pegasus Knight started over to her. The winged-animal's coat was thick with sweat from the long, rather dreadful hours of nonstop fighting along the fortress; it's rider, Marcia herself seemed visibly tired and exhausted from the continuous physical altercations but appeared to be doing her best to remain in the saddle. One hand moved to push aside her straying pink bangs as well as kept the sweat from running into her eyes. In all honesty, she was surprised the girl hadn't fallen off her Pegasus just yet.

"Watch yourself, I think there are still a few archers lingering around." she started. "I just… I don't want you getting hurt, after all we need as many fighters out here as possible."

The Pegasus rider leaned forward slightly to brief a quick glance over the nearest balcony- or at least attempted to catch a glimpse of something before she nodded. One hand strapped her partly broken lance back to the leather saddle underneath her before she slid one leg over and dropped over the side of her Pegasus; offering a slight struggle of a landing as her legs appeared to just about slip out from beneath her.

"Thanks." Marcia nodded; running her callous palms down the front of her thighs as though to encourage a better flow of blood through them. Shaking her head, when she looked back to her next, those exhausted eyes expressed a slightly winced position. "Ouch… oh, that looks bad."

"It hurts but it's nothing." Calill replied as she forced herself to give a small smile of assurance to the Pegasus Knight. After all, she couldn't let a little injury interrupt her remaining beauty and strength, right? Damsels in Distress weren't gorgeous; they were desperate. And she, for one, was not desperate. "All in all, I'm more surprised he managed to hit me in the first place."

The act might've seemed to work for a brief moment before the other woman nodded once more. "Here, let me go get a medic to look at that… we can't have you bleeding all over the place after all." Marcia reminded as she moved along the further part of the balcony to try and retrieve one of the white-robed healers from nearby. "Just stay away from the edges and don't move until I get back!"

Before she could usher in another word, the woman took off as fast as her saddle-abused legs would take her. She gave herself the opportunity for a low sigh to pass from between her lips and moved to lean back against one of the nearest walls with her uninjured shoulder; taking the woman's advice to stay away from the balcony edges as best she could.

Down below, sections of the Crimean army were battling against the opposing forces of Ludveck's military; the sharp clanging of metal upon metal echoed out as though it was meant to be a sound of nature. It was absolutely mind-numbing to listen to over and over again but… there was really no other choice. A surprise ambush had caught them off-guard with most of the main forces off fighting miles and miles away… they were doing the best they could but at the moment it didn't seem like the Goddess would be ruling in their favor. Not to say that she would let her head fall down at the prospect. After all, they still had Queen Elincia leading with Princess Leanne close to her side. There was the mighty Mordecai taking out a wave of soldiers in one swing with the more agile Lethe surprising her enemies again and again. So, perhaps there was some chance of victory in their future.

She had to admit, the pain was beginning to die down a bit although it felt like her shoulder was both on fire and numb all in one combination; a rush of crimson liquid still made its way down her arm and over the front of her body as well. She had to make a mental note to herself, even if there was a good chance at landing a direct hit on someone… always be sure to check your surroundings first. That was like the first rule of battle, how could she have forgotten something like that?

Even though it was painful to move, she eventually lifted her non-blood stained hand to push aside the bangs that had dropped into her line of vision; grimacing once more at the touch of sweat that had made its way onto her brow.

When did she start feeling so hot? It felt like she had some kind of fever.

And why was everything getting so dark?

The next thing she knew, it felt like someone was shaking her lightly and calling out to her; trying to usher some kind of response from her semi-unconscious lips. A faint groan lifted itself lightly from the back of her throat as she tried to imagine that she was still in her warm bed rather than out on the cold stones of the fortress. And that whoever was trying to wake her up didn't want to die a very hot and uncomfortable death.

"Calill! Wake up!"

Her baby blue eyes eventually fluttered open as it took a moment or two before she could regain some kind of clear line of sight. The outside edges of her vision were blurred and slightly speckled with black spots at first before they eventually cleared away to give her a more proper look on the surroundings around her. The first thing she noticed were those bright, matching blue eyes above her; half-filled with concern and the other half filled with wondering despair. A light smile almost involuntarily tipped at the corner of her lips as she noted the blue-haired Commander above her; his gentle hands holding on carefully to her arms as he had her held up at a slight incline. "If I had known you were going to be here, Commander Geoffrey, I would've worn something better."

In a seemingly captive moment, he pulled her up against his chest as his arms braced carefully against her back. She could feel the heat of his armor against her for the brief second of the embrace before he quickly pulled himself away- as though just now catching onto his act. "I'm just glad you're okay." he started; an exhausted yet relieved expression captured on the corner of his lips. "And… that nothing about you has changed."

"A collector's item shouldn't change, Commander." she reminded.

He only shook his head at her remark before he carefully helped her to her feet; keeping a strong hand on her back to help her keep balance. "Are you feeling alright? It looked like a fairly simple injury but you lost quite a bit of blood."

"That would explain the headache." she nodded as she lightly tended to one temple with her fingertips; feeling the all too familiar throbbing behind her eyes. At least the arrow was gone now, one of the healers must've gotten to her while she was unconscious. "When did you guys get here anyways? You weren't here before… before I passed out anyway."

A tired sigh seemed to escape him before he moved to answer her. "We arrived just a few minutes ago and managed to catch Ludveck's army just as they were about to retreat. The cowardly bastard didn't feel like sticking around as soon as he heard we were coming but we managed to cut off their escape route before all too many of them could get away. It was stupid of us to fall for that trick... I can't believe we let ourselves be convinced that he was elsewhere- that's the oldest war trick in the book."

There was that sense of agitation in his voice that mixed with a sense of disappointment and self-depreciation; his expression hardened to reveal a more grave, darker look… he was honestly letting the mistake eat him alive from the inside. She moved one hand to rest on his chest; feeling the multitude of dents that damaged the piece of protective armor. "Well, when we find Ludveck, I'm sure everyone will be willing to let you get the first and final hit."

"If it was up to me, the first and final hits would be separated by a few years." he retorted more to himself than to her. He shook his head and released another exhausted sigh. "We'll be preparing a counterstrike in a day or two, do you think you'll be up to it by then?"

"Well who else is supposed to bring the heat to the battlefield?" she remarked.

"I was actually thinking we could just send you over to the other side and have you seduce them-"

"Commander Geoffrey, your sense of humor is not appreciated." Calill replied; moving her hands to her slender hips as she watched him seemingly laugh the comment aside. "Besides, I don't think Ludveck could hold me as well as you do."


End file.
